An early morning trip to the Philae Temple complex near Aswan is a real treat, from the first boat ride to the last known Ancient Egyptian heiroglyph. A Journey to Philae In my last post, I described how the itinerary on our tour of Egypt required a choice early on. To explore Aswan, including Philae, […]
As part of our Egyptian adventure we travel all the way South to Abu Simbel, home to the temples famously rescued from Lake Nasser. A Mammoth Excursion – Would It Be Worth It? So far in Egypt, I’ve posted about places in Cairo and Giza. Egyptian museums old and new, Islamic Cairo, and of course […]
A smaller batch of Open House visits than usual is a good opportunity to focus on spaces closer to home. Open House London 2026 In hindsight, I don’t think I’ll ever have another Open House haul like I had in 2024. If you’re a long-time reader, you might remember that I took a week off […]
A childhood dream fulfilled as I visit the Pyramids and the Sphinx. And thanks to extensive reimagining of the visitor experience, it’s a smooth and simple journey. You Mean I Really Get To See the Pyramids of Giza? Some of you know already (either because you know me in real life or because I often […]
If you don’t have much time to spare in Cairo, a little excursion to al-Mu’izz Street gives an insight into one of the city’s many historic faces. A Hare-Brained Scheme, But A Good One In The End I explained in my last post that, on my very first trip to Egypt, the Urban Geographer and […]
You can’t come to somewhere named Bath and not see the baths, now can you? When in Bath… A recent trip to Bath was not my first. I came once years ago on a ladies’ day trip. We visited the topic of today’s post, went to the Jane Austen Museum, the Fashion Museum, had a […]
A chance find on Google Maps leads us to Weissenhof and Le Corbusier’s contribution to a fascinating modernist project. A Chance Find As I wrote in my last post, on a recent trip to Stuttgart the Staatsgalerie was the only museum I was intent on seeing. With a day and a half to fill (by […]
Today we see the jewel in the crown of Austria’s national library: the Prunksaal, or State Room. A Slight Miscalculation, But We Went With It Today’s post continues in the Habsburg theme of the Salterton Arts Review’s trip to Vienna. We started with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, whose collections come from centuries of imperial art collecting. […]
Today we get up close and personal with the Habsburgs at Vienna’s Imperial Crypt, otherwise known as the Kaisergruft or Kapuzinergruft. Vienna’s Kaisergruft One thing about taking a trip in the winter is that, well, it’s cold. Where you might sit in a square in the summertime and watch the world go by, in the […]
I finally make it to Chislehurst Caves, and find an intriguing mix of pseudo-archaeology, WWII forebearance, and music history. Introducing Chislehurst Caves Let’s start by getting one thing straight. Despite the name, Chislehurst Caves aren’t caves. They area instead man-made tunnels and caverns, excavated as chalk and flint mines. The first mention of the mines, […]
